When No. 13 Acadiana and No. 4 Lafayette High meet Friday in the second round of the LHSAA baseball playoffs both teams will be living by that old mantra.

"The atmosphere is going to be electric, we're looking forward to it and it's going to be a lot of fun," said Acadiana coach Jay Hodges.

This will be the fourth time the cross-town rivals have faced each other this season, with the Rams sweeping the district series and the Lions beating Acadiana during their tournament in the beginning of the season.

"We're excited to be playing them. This is what you play for," Hodges said. "If you can't get excited about it than something is wrong with you."

The teams have previously met in the playoffs in 2010 and 2012, both times in the quarterfinals to wildly different results.

In 2010, Lafayette High came away with a 7-2 victory, while in 2012 the Rams gained the upper hand with a 7-1 victory.

"They're no strangers to us in the playoffs as well. We've faced them before," Hodges said. "So anything goes."

Hodges said the Rams' would rely on their starting pitching, the only constant in the playoffs.

The Rams limited Lafayette High to only two runs across both district matchups, getting ace-quality performances from Derek Boutin and Tanner Broussard.

"It's baseball. It's very dependent on how you're starting pitching goes and we were fortunate to get two very good performances in district," Hodges said. "We're looking for more of the same in this matchup."

Lafayette coach Sam Taulli said his team struggled during the district season against the Rams' stable of arms, but thought his team could improve on their performance.

"They've got some decent arms and we didn't hit the ball as well as we should have and didn't execute," Taulli said. "We just have to concentrate on getting the job done.

"We just have to focus, execute and get it done."

To ensure he gets the same type of pitching performance, Hodges will turn the ball over to John Joslin.

Joslin helped lead a deep, strong Rams' rotation throughout the year by pounding the strike zone.

In his last five starts Joslin has gone all seven innings in all but one performance, averaging seven strikeouts and only two earned runs per game. Joslin pounded the strike zone in the starts, firing first-pitch strikes 64 percent of the time.

While confident in Joslin's ability, Hodges was wary of making any assumptions about how the game would play out.

"Anything can happen in baseball, I understand that and everyone who knows the game understands that," Hodges said. "So you can have a game plan that you think will be effective, but you have to go out there and execute it and hit your spots."

Joslin will face either Emile Lege or Joseph Battaglia, Taulli said. In the first district game both Lege and Battaglia pitched, with Lege struggling during the outing.

Lege, who drew the game-winning walk against East Ascension, threw three innings while giving up five hits and three earned runs.

Hodges said both Lafayette and his squad were in the unique position of knowing their second-round opponents well. While most teams face lineups they know nothing about this early in the playoffs, both the Lions and Rams have ample information to base their strategies on.

"It's an advantage. There are really no surprises. They know our personal and we know their personal," Hodges said. "We've played them numerous times, we've got our charts and they've got their charts. We know each others tendencies at this point."

If the game is close in the late innings, Taulli said he was confident his team would be comfortable playing under pressure.

In their first round playoff game against East Ascension the Lions won in walk-off fashion, and have proven their mettle in late-game situations.

"We've had a history of doing that this season. We've really done a good job of never giving up and fighting," Taulli said. "I like my team they do a good job. They never quit; they always feel like they've got a chance."